1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a wide class of board-type games in which playing pieces are sequentially moved from a starting location to a designated final location. The object of this class of games is to be the first to have all of one's pieces reach this final location. Chinese type checkers is particularly exemplary of this class of games. A well known variant of this class of games is checkers wherein the object is to capture an opponent's pieces rather than reach a designated location.
Games such as the above are defined by the sequential movement of pieces along predefined rows and columns within the game board array. The positioning of one's pieces can be utilized to block opponent's movements as well as to be intermediate steps in the transporting of one's own pieces from the starting position to the final position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of magnets, magnetized playing pieces or magnetic game board surfaces is old in the art throughout a great variety of types of games. Examples of such games are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,765,679 and 2,819,904 issued to O'Connell and Nelson et al, respectively. These games illustrate game apparatus configurations which utilize magnetic polarity to introduce a chance element into the game which would not otherwise be possible. The use of magnetic force as a game element also adds a dynamic physical aspect to the game which would not otherwise be possible. Magnetized surfaces are also often used in game surfaces to facilitate contact between the playing surface and the playing pieces themselves. In this respect such games as chess and checkers are often played with playing pieces being magnetized and with a playing surface capable of reacting thereto. For example, in chess the attachment between the playing pieces and the desired playing location at any particular time can be facilitated by magnetization of the playing piece and the playing surface. In this way there is less chance of the playing piece being dislodged from its designated point. A similar advantage is apparent in other games in this class such as checkers.
The prior art does not show any game configuration where the magnetic force is utilized as a dynamic aspect of the game such that the playing pieces themselves are substantially altered dependent upon the location of placement. This dynamic game concept is one of several important aspects considered in the present invention.